Wildlife

A report to be released within days is expected to partly blame the impact of construction work on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge for a continuing steep decline in the number of pink dolphins in Hong Kong waters.

WWF Hong Kong called for an interdepartmental task force to be set up to find ways to save the dolphin population and for steps to be taken to halt reclamation projects they fear could push the mammals to the brink of extinction in Hong Kong waters.

Figures due next month will show a major decline in the number of pink dolphins - also known as Chinese white dolphins - found in Hong Kong waters at any one time, says Dr Samuel Hung Ka-yiu, chairman of the Dolphin Conservation Society.

The Sai Kung shark featured in a video that grabbed attention online last week is believed to be a more dangerous species that originally thought, and one that has never before been reported in Hong Kong waters.

An 83-year-old Indonesian told yesterday how she faced a "fight for survival" when a Komodo dragon pounced and sunk its teeth into her. Haisah was sitting on the ground outside her house on Rinca Island when the twometre-long reptile sprang at her.

A report on the illegal wildlife trade of tigers across Asia shows that between 2000 and 2012, greater China had the most seizures of tiger parts after India. There were a total of 654 seizures across the region with parts from an estimated 1,425 tigers.

Do people still do Christmas cards, or is it just me? The festive imagery in the most unusual of the few that I have seen this year is truly strange, depicting the temptation of St Anthony the Great. What this has to do with Christmas was not immediately apparent.

Hong Kong's celebrity crocodile, Pui Pui, may get some company after another of the species was found abandoned in a Tai Po village yesterday.

The reptile is about 1.2 metres long and weighs about 5kg. It has no noticeable wounds and was active when found at 3am in an aquarium left at a refuse-collection station in Tong Sheung Tsuen, Tai Po. It is believed to be an unwanted pet.